Ashes to go
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 9:19AM 
Upon returning from the Ash Wednesday service with ashes still on my forehead, I read an article about an Episcopalian priest in the USA who five years ago stood at a busy intersection in St. Louis and smudged the sign of the cross on the foreheads of passerbys. The concept has spread across 12 states and a resource guide written. The thinking is that we can't just wait for people to come to us. We have to meet them where they actually are. The priest reflects that 'it's fulfilling a spiritual need in a pragmatic way. It shows flexibility where often inflexibility is seen. Alot of people don't come to church but they still are interested in claiming symbols of their faith and their relationship with God. This is a small way of engaging people in their spiritual life at this time of year. It left me feeling that what I had experienced within the walls of St. Philip's was also playing out on the world stage. We are part of something much bigger. It is exciting to think about ways to go where the people are
Reader Comments (2)
This idea of bringing a symbol of faith out beyond the church walls reminds me of an experience I had a few years ago on Ash Wednesday. Believing that I didn't have enough gas in the car to make it home from church (mind you my husband Tony wouldn't have shared that viewpoint!) I stopped to fill up on the way home. When I went up to the counter to pay in the gas station store, where the cashiers are usually pretty bored and uncommunicative, the young man who served me gave me a warm smile and friendly greeting. I was puzzling over this encounter with the young South Asian man, as I believed he was from his accent and looks, as I was getting into my car. Then I caught a glimpse of my face in the rearview mirror and saw the cross of ashes there. I'm pretty sure that man that evening was glad to see a sign of God's presence in the day-to-day commercial exchange we had.....
It is exciting to think about engaging people in their spiritual life where the people are. And to be flexible... These seem to be key for the church if we are to be relevant today. For people to be '"interested in claiming symbols of their faith and their relationship with God" suggests a connection exists already for those people. The question to us then is how do we support them where they are (which is not inside St. Philip's walls)?